Week 9

So I'll start off by saying that this is the end of my first transfer and I'll be staying here in North Edwards! I'm really happy about that and I know it's where I need to be. I also want to talk about last Monday. Last Monday there was a big group of missionaries that got together to do a hike. It was almost all the missionaries in our Zone (East Lancaster Zone). We went out to what's called The Devil's Punchbowl. It was nice to do something outside and hike in a tshirt and not a collared shirt haha. I'm gonna send some pictures of the hike and some of the nature-y things we got to look at.

Another highlight of my week was that I got to drive for the first time in two months! It was great haha We had exchanges and I was the designated driver so I finally got to drive. It was great even if it was just for the day. It wasn't all that exciting I'm just making a big deal out of it because I miss driving haha.

After our P-day though we got to go and work a lot. Even though our area is pretty small in comparison to others, we still keep busy with the work. Something I thought this week in our District meeting was that our preparation and practice for teaching lessons is an act of faith, showing Heavenly Father that we are ready to be led to the people he has prepared to hear His message. I believe that as a missionary I cant expect Heavenly Father to lead us to the people ready to hear His message if I haven't done what's necessary to prepare myself to teach it. So this week I've tried to focus on preparing myself to teach the lessons we have and to be ready to teach people as we meet them. It's a work in progress though haha I'm trying to get better everyday.

This week we taught one of the coolest lessons of my mission. We taught a guy named Jim. We actually met him my first day in the area and he's either always been working or out of town. But he ended up cancelling an overtime shift at work so he could meet with us this past Thursday. He normally lives in Los Angeles but he is working out here in Desert Lake. But we taught him about the Restoration and it was awesome because he had questions and he knew things from the Bible that we referenced. We could see him making connections in his head so that was legit. We have another appointment with him this week so that will hopefully go really well. We've been teaching a girl named Chelsea and then we've also started teaching her boyfriend Jackson. Recently they've been really busy with family coming in town and things and so it's been hard to see them. But we had an appointment with them set up Saturday and when we showed up they weren't there. So we sent Chelsea a text and then after waiting for an appropriate amount of time we decided to walk around and see if we could meet other people in the town.

While we were walking around we met the running back/linebacker for the local high school and started talking to him and got his information so we can schedule a time to meet with him. But just when we were almost done talking to him a car pulled onto the street we were on and stopped by us. The window rolled down and it was Chelsea! She said she had an emergency and had to go to Lancaster and then couldn't reply to our text because she was driving but when she realized she was late she thought that maybe if she drove around she might find us walking around the town and BAM! She did! Haha it was crazy! So we set up a time to meet with her and her boyfriend this week too and we're really looking forward to that. Really cool things are going on out here in small town California. The water isn't drinkable but the people are great!

Thank you for all the prayers sent my way! I hope everyone has a great week!

Love,

Elder Anderson